Portraits of Love and Hate

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Writer Polly Coles reads the next of her essays about portraiture and our obsession with ourselves: Portraits of Love and Hate. In this series, she looks at five different aspects of portraiture and makes the case that portraiture is the most intimate artistic conversation of all. Face to face with another human being, no other art form investigates and reveals more richly what it is to be human. Portraits can promote exploitation and self-aggrandisement, but at their best, they are instruments of honesty, love and profound attention. In this essay, Polly looks at how double portraits have always worked to connect people intimately, whether in love, enmity or indifference. Produced by Melanie Harris of Sparklab Productions Photo by Ella Gradwell You can find images of some of the paintings by artists referenced here: Jan van Eyk: bit.ly/JanVanEyck-Arnolfini Thomas Gainsborough: bit.ly/ThomasGainsborough-Andrews Thomas Gainsborough: bit.ly/ThomasGainsborough-Daughters Quentin Massys: bit.ly/QuintenMassys The BBC is not responsible for the contents of the sites listed.